MIRAFLORES is a coastal area of Lima and, it has to be said, a bit more upmarket.
I am assisted in getting phone credit (phone roaming seemed all a bit hard for management to set up before I came away) by going to a small tech just off the street.
Like many such shops, it's absolutely jammed packed with stuff, from phone cases to American baseball caps.
I am privy to a "handy tip" right in front of me; If you ever need to eject the sim card from an iPhone that requires that small paperclip looking thing, an earring will do the same job.
It's unclear if the lass serving us has considered the hygiene of such a practice but still, it's the sort of thing Shannon Lush, or perhaps MacGyver, would be impressed with.
At least now I'm able to order a taxi through an app when out of wifi range.
So it's then off for a stroll on the boardwalk which stretches along the cliff's edge of the coast.
Surfing is popular in the area and I'm told there are some mammoth waves to be caught. The trade-offs include the water being an enlivening 15 degrees and the high potential of being spiked by sea urchins.
One story emerges of a chap who thought he'd stepped on a few after a swim and asked his wife's hairdresser (who must have had a good pair of tweezers, of course) to remove the broken-off spikes.
She proceeded to take out 29. Ouch.
Along this boardwalk it is clear that humans are humans wherever in the world you go.
Children like to play on playgrounds, couples sit on park benches, teenagers skateboard, a few fitness-conscious folk sweat hard to work off the effects of their potato-laden diets – it's all very pleasant part of the world set to the backdrop of the Pacific Ocean.
- Ashley Walmsley travelled to Peru with assistance from the Crawford Fund and with financial support from DFAT Council on Australia Latin America Relations.